Fans of Captain Marvel, especially the MCU’s iteration of Captain Marvel, are very familiar with her universal distress beacon that has been dubber the ‘cosmic pager’, and while Nick Fury was the only one shown using it in the movies, one comic confirms there are two other heroes with that exact same device.
The cosmic pager made its Marvel Cinematic Universe debut during the post-credit scene of Avengers: Infinity War as Nick Fury activated it right before he was reduced to dust following Thanos’ infamous Infinity Snap. Roughly a year later, fans are given an explanation for the cosmic pager in the film Captain Marvel which reveals that Carol Danvers and Nick Fury teamed up to stop the warring Kree and save what remained of the Skrulls. When the film came to a close, Carol gave Nick the pager and told him to use it only in the most dire of circumstances, and Fury deduced that Thanos’ act of cosmic atrocity warranted Captain Marvel’s involvement. In Avengers: Endgame, it is revealed that the cosmic pager actually works and sends a beacon to Carol from across the cosmos–and the latest issue of Captain Marvel shows that it isn’t the only one in existence.
In Captain Marvel #41 by Kelly Thompson, Juan Frigeri, and Álvaro López, Carol is in the middle of completing a set of trials forced upon her by the highest authority of Marvel’s magic community. In a previous issue, Captain Marvel tricked Ove–the son of Enchantress and Namor–to drink an elixir that rid him of his magic. Stealing magic from a magic user is one of the most serious crimes within the magic community and is handled appropriately by a tribunal consisting of Agatha Harkness, Magik, and Enchantress to name a few. This issue shows Carol undertaking her final test to prove herself worthy of continuing as a superhero and avoiding a mystical prison cell. After she does so–freeing herself of the wrath of witches, wizards, and sorcerers–all with the help of her friends (most notably the living manifestation of her most powerful form, Binary), Binary decides to take to the cosmos and become a hero in her own right–and she is given something to take with her in case of emergencies.
Binary and Lauri-Ell Also Have Captain Marvel's Beacon: Here's Why
As Binary is saying her goodbyes, Captain Marvel’s Kree sister, Lauri-Ell, gives Binary the beacon Captain Marvel gave to her some time ago. Once Binary leaves, Lauri tells Carol that she needs a new beacon asap, and given the existence of the original, this request is seemingly granted without issue. This means that Binary and Lauri-Ell are two other heroes in the Marvel Universe that have a beacon that can call Captain Marvel from across the cosmos–which is the exact same function as the cosmic beacon shown in the MCU.
While these devices are presented on two different mediums within Marvel, both instances reveal more than just the plain fact that cosmic beacons for Captain Marvel exist in both the comics and the MCU, but also what it takes to be a recipient of one of these beacons. In the comics, Lauri-Ell gets one since she is a full-blooded Kree and doesn’t reside on Earth, but more importantly, she gets one because she is Carol Danvers’ sister. Similarly, Binary is quite literally a part of Carol, making her something of a family member as well. This revelation sheds much more light on Captain Marvel’s relationship with Nick Fury. Sure, she gave Fury a beacon for superhero purposes, but this issue of Captain Marvel implies that she also gave him one because she sees him as more than an asset, but a member of her family. Captain Marvel confirms two other heroes have her cosmic pager in the comics, and that confirmation makes her relationship with Nick Fury in the MCU that much more impactful.